The Caves of Zugarramurdi · Those Judged at the Mouth of the Cave

At the edge of Zugarramurdi in Navarre a stream flows out of a cave and runs through a wide stone chamber that locals call “the witches’ cave.”

It was said that Basque witches gathered in the cave once a year. In 1610 the Spanish Inquisition arrested a group of people from the village here, and more than forty were burned — many of them names extracted under questioning.

The village now holds a witches’ festival each year to remember this history, and sells candles and souvenirs. A notice at the entrance reads: what we remember is not the witches, but the people who were called witches.

Folklore / Navarre · Spain / 1610